Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Sound Recording
Motion picture leading man James Cagney had starred in some
of the greatest gangster films for the past decade entering the year 1942, but
it would be his performance as a song and dance man in Yankee Doodle Dandy that would immortalize the man in the annuls of
Academy Award history with his only win. It was perhaps because of the film’s exceedingly
patriotic theme overall in the wake of the country’s entry into World War II
that helped him achieve the honor, but all that aside the audience received one
of America’s more lively and entertaining musicals with this biographical film
about one very popular entertainer from the earlier part of the 20th
century.
Yankee Doodle Dandy
is a biographical musical about the life of George M. Cohan, a famous stage
entertainer that left his mark on Broadway, set to the tones of his unashamed
patriotic tones of his performances and songs. We follow the tale of George M.
Cohan (James Cagney) from the days as a young son in a vaudevillian family and
his aspirations of making more of himself on the stage. After unsuccessful
hawking songs George joins forces with a struggling writer, Sam Harris (Richard
Whorf), and for a prosperous team at producing musicals on Broadway. Along the
way we experience George falling in love and marrying Mary (Joan Leslie), his
sweetheart and his muse for some of his finest work. With his success George is
able to care for his family, most notably his father (played by Walter Huston)
out of respect for performance nurturing background. George retires, but is
brought back to perform in yet another hit portraying President Franklin D.
Roosevelt on Broadway. The film
concludes with a show of admiration for the showman as following Cohan’s
opening performance as Roosevelt he is summoned to the White House where privately the President honors Cohan with the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The film has no qualms with be overtly patriotic, a clear
result of the times in which the motion picture was produced, and does not feel
drab in doing so. In this performance James Cagney has his chance to truly manfest
the skills that he was truly best at, dancing, something many casual movie
goers may not have known of the man who starred in the gangster classic The Public Enemy. Yankee Doodle Dandy is a fun, exaggerated tale of a famous entertainer
of the past told in a way that allows for plenty of musical moments which play
well with overall flow of the picture, as it sugar coats American patriotism in
a classic rags to riches story.
Some myths state that James Cagney’s work on Yankee Doodle Dandy was nothing more
than an attempt to proving his national pride when authorities were becoming
suspicious of un-American acts by people of influence, such as actors or
writers. Well, this was far from the truth as red-scare of Hollywood and
McCarthyism would not take place until after WWII, when Americans could stop
worrying about Nazis and began to worry about the idea of Communism becoming a
true threat to the nation. Rather it was more likely that Cagney’s brother,
William, who saw the life story of Cohan as a wonderful vehicle for his talented
brother and pushed for Warner Bros. to pick of the rights to the man’s life
story. The heightened patriotism within the picture which was already in place because
of Cohan’s history as “Yankee Doodle” was perhaps further escalated because of
the Pearl Harbor attacks that took place literally days into the films production,
raising the awareness Americans were in need of national pride.
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| Cagney was a song and dance man long before he was a gangster actor. |
While in production George M. Cohan gave some consulting
advice with the film, but was of failing health at the time. He was however
aware enough to hold on to important controlling decisions with the motion
picture sharing his life story. With Cohan’s approval James Caney was cast in
the lead role which supplied the Hollywood veteran with lone career Academy
Award win as Best Actor of 1942. Cagney already contained within his style
aspects of Cohan’s flair within his performing. While dancing Cagney attempted
to mimic to his best ability the stiff, yet whimsical dancing style of Cohan, while
singing in a half singing, half spoken word manner that Cohan was known for.
During regular acting scenes Cagney would keep to his natural acting style
which best suited the picture.
Director Michael Curtiz would not be one’s first thought in
producing this picture as he was not known for musicals. With a background in Errol Flynn action
spectaculars and women centric pictures Curtiz has a fine eye to mix his work
to entertain both male and female audiences. Here in this biographical musical
he mixes the flowery performances of musicals with the sharp patriotism that
the picture was aiming for at a time when Americans were high of devotion to
country.
The film would impact audiences is great way in 1942 as the
nation was still reeling from being attacked just months earlier. Up-with-America
pictures were becoming a norm during this period, and this feature oozed it
while serving a rather straight forward story, providing many happy musical
segments, and wonderful dancing by Cagney.
That year the film would be nominated for seven Academy
Awards, including a nomination for Best Picture, and came away with three wins:
Best Actor (Cagney), Best Musical Score, and Best Sound. Through the years
American critics and historians have honored the picture with naming the film
to many top all-time lists, appearing on several American Film Institute lists,
including for musicals, inspirational films, and best American films of all
time. As a musical Americans have listed it amongst one of the best, perhaps
for being a product of a time when commitment to country was at an all-time
high. Contemporary audiences and historians have continued to praise the
picture for its significance in time and for James Cagney’s performance.
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| "... and I thank you." |
For the casual movie watcher this motion picture would come
off as just another musical, and yet another film feeding off the “yay America”
themes of movies from the period surrounding WWII, yet it is much more. For
once we get to see James Cagney as a song and dance man, his true self as an
entertainer, far beyond his tough gangster performances. Yes the film is a
Hollywood-ized tale of one man’s life that overlooks facts and sugar coats
happy feeling throughout, but it makes up for pure entertainment, which is the
reason for the picture at a time when morale was needed in the nation. In the
period of Cohan’s failing health he would be able to see the motion picture
premiere a short time before his death and approved of the film’s result, as
would most Americans of that time and for years to come.
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